DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Wagner Group may be absorbed by the Russian Defense Ministry, which Prigozhin rallied against before his death. The mercenary group's current arrangement could 'disappear rather soon,' former GRU capt
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-29 | by ( Azmi Haroun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The fate of the Wagner Group is in the hands of Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin. The New York Times reported the Russian Defense Ministry was considering absorbing the group. AdvertisementAdvertisement"The Wagner Group will disappear rather soon," Boris Volodarsky, a former captain in Russia's Spetsnaz GRU special forces and a fellow with the Royal Historical Society in London, told Insider. As tensions mounted between Wagner and Putin this summer, the Kremlin mandated that Wagner recruits sign contracts with the Russian army — which Prigozhin resisted. In his tirade, Prigozhin said the ministry "must be stopped" and the people responsible for the death of Wagner fighters must be punished.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Prigozhin, Wagner, Boris Volodarsky, Russia's, Putin, Dmitry Utkin, Valery Chekalov, Volodarsky, —, Alexander Lukashenko Organizations: Wagner, Kremlin, The New York Times, Russian Defense Ministry, Service, Wagner Group, New York Times, Institute for, Royal Historical Society, Defense Ministry, Times, Central African, Associated Press, Russia's Defense Ministry, Belarusian Locations: Wall, Silicon, East, Africa, Russian, London, Tver, Moscow, Belarus, Bakhmut, Ukraine, Mali, Russia, Rostov

☆ Cybercrime set to threaten Canada's security, prosperity - spy agency
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsOTTAWA, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Organized cybercrime is set to pose a threat to Canada's national security and economic prosperity over the next two years, the national signal intelligence agency said on Monday. Cyber criminals continue to show resilience and an ability to innovate their business model, it said. "Organized cybercrime will very likely pose a threat to Canada's national security and economic prosperity over the next two years," said CSE, which is the Canadian equivalent of the U.S. National Security Agency. But Chris Lynam, director general of Canada's National Cybercrime Coordination Centre, said very few crimes were reported and the real amount stolen last year could easily be C$5 billion or more. Tehran likely tolerates cybercrime activities by Iran-based cyber criminals that align with the state's strategic and ideological interests, it added.

Persons: Kacper, Chris Lynam, David Ljunggren, Tomasz Janowski, Grant McCool Organizations: REUTERS, Rights OTTAWA, Communications Security, Western, U.S . National Security Agency, Coordination, Soviet Union, CSE, Thomson Locations: Russia, Iran, Canada, Moscow, Tehran

☆ Nerve agents, poison and window falls: Over the years, Kremlin foes have been attacked or killed
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-26 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Over the years, Kremlin political critics, turncoat spies and investigative journalists have been killed or assaulted in a variety of ways. Assassination attempts against foes of President Vladimir Putin have been common during his nearly quarter century in power. watch nowHis allies almost immediately said he was poisoned, but Russian officials denied it. A British inquiry found that Russian agents had killed Litvinenko, probably with Putin's approval, but the Kremlin denied any involvement. JournalistsNumerous journalists critical of authorities in Russia have been killed or suffered mysterious deaths, which their colleagues in some cases blamed on someone in the political hierarchy.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Mikhail Klimentyev, —, turncoat, Alexei Navalny, Navalny, Pyotr Verzilov, Verzilov, Vladimir Kara, Murza, Boris Nemtsov, Boris Yeltsin, Nemtsov, Putin, Alexander Litvinenko, Anna Politkovskaya, service's, Litvinenko, Sergei Skripal, Yulia, Novichok, Yuri Shchekochikhin, Shchekochikhin, Yevgeny Prigozhin Organizations: Sputnik, AFP, Getty, Kremlin, KGB, Authorities, Novaya Gazeta Locations: Moscow, Russia, Siberia, Omsk, Berlin, Germany, France, Sweden, Soviet, Russian, Chechnya, London, Britain, Salisbury, British, Novaya

CNN —Yevgeny Prigozhin turned the Wagner Group from a shadowy band of mercenaries into a feared military powerhouse operating across multiple countries on three continents. The kind of clear chain of command that is common in traditional military does not exist in Wagner, which makes Prigozhin’s demise a potentially existential problem for the group. Members of Wagner group sit atop of a tank in a street in the city of Rostov-on-Don, on June 24, 2023. A Russian military delegation went to the Libyan city of Benghazi this week to meet with Haftar, who has been supported by Wagner for several years. He said the cracks in the foundations of West African and Central African countries that have leaned on the Wagner Group for support could begin to emerge now.

Persons: Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner, ”, Natasha Lindstaedt, “ It’s, ” Lindstaedt, – Wagner, Dmitriy Utkin, Valeriy Chekalov –, “ Wagner, Russia ” Wagner, Prigozhin, Vladimir Putin, “, ” Wagner, Huseyn Aliyev, –, ” Aliyev, Aliyev, Lindstaedt, Putin, Stringer, Yevgeny Progozhin, Khalifa, Haftar, Yevkurov, ” Oluwole, there’s, ” Prigozhin, Christopher O, Ogunmodede, couldn’t, Sergey Lavrov Organizations: CNN, Wagner, University of Essex, Russia, University of Glasgow, Kremlin, Ministry of Defense, Prigozhin's Press Service, Russian Ministry of Defense, Kommersant, UK Ministry of Defense, Getty Images Security, Russian, Central African, Forces, Reuters, Libyan, Central Africa, Institute for Security Studies, Central, Wagner Group, Politics, Russia’s Locations: Moscow, Russia, Russia’s, Russian, United States, Ukraine, Africa, Middle, Bakhmut, Rostov, AFP, Syria, St . Petersburg, Mali, Crimea, Central African Republic, Mozambique, Libya, Libyan, Benghazi, West African, “, Mali …

☆ Newly declassified US intel claims Russia is laundering propaganda through unwitting Westerners
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-25 | by ( Katie Bo Lillis | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Washington CNN —Russian intelligence is operating a systematic program to launder pro-Kremlin propaganda through private relationships between Russian operatives and unwitting US and western targets, according to newly declassified US intelligence. “At the end of the day, this unwitting target is disseminating Russian influence operation, Russian propaganda to their target public,” the US official said. In fact, the FSB directed his efforts and “almost certainly financed the project,” according to the declassified intelligence. The FSB does use similar tactics to influence political opinion within Russia, according to the intelligence. “The purpose of those protests really was … designed to sell it to the Russian people,” the US official said.

Persons: “, Maxim Grigoriev, Syria –, Bashar al, Assad, optees ”, Andrey Stepanenko, Natalia Burlinova, Anton Tsvetkov Organizations: Washington CNN, Russian, Russian Federal Security Service, CNN, UN, “, US, Embassy — Locations: Russian, Syria, Russia, United States, Ukraine, New York, Boston, Washington, Moscow —, Ukrainian

☆ Russia Pushes Long-Term Influence Operations Aimed at the U.S. and Europe
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-25 | by ( Julian E. Barnes | More About Julian E. Barnes | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Russian influence operations may have been dealt something of a blow in the aftermath of Yevgeny V. Prigozhin’s mutiny against the Russian military leadership and subsequent apparent assassination. Mr. Prigozhin, in addition to running the Wagner group, a private military force, founded and funded the Internet Research Agency. But the information released by the United States on Friday is designed to show how much deeper Russian influence operations are than those efforts to sow dissent on the internet. These operations include programs designed to build support for Russia among Americans and Europeans along with blunter efforts like fake grass-roots protests. The Treasury Department said Mr. Popov oversaw Ms. Burlinova’s work and provided her a list of U.S. citizens to approach.

Persons: Yevgeny V, Prigozhin, Wagner, Prigozhin’s, Donald J, Hillary Clinton, Natalia Burlinova, Burlinova, Yegor Sergeyevich Popov, Popov, Burlinova’s Organizations: Internet Research Agency, Trump, U.S, Department, Creative Diplomacy, Treasury Department Locations: United States, Russia

☆ Apparent death of Wagner boss Prigozhin might pay dividends for the Kremlin
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-23 | by ( Nathan Hodge | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The Ukrainians and their allies, Solovyov insinuated, were “spreading a fake message about the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin” based on a report from Rossiya-24, a Russian state television channel. After all, Russian investigative outlets have reported that the Wagner head apparently employed at least one body double. Awaiting an impartial report from the Investigative Committee is like expecting a Russian state TV host to stop taking talking points from the Kremlin. The crash of Prigozhin’s plane happened just about two months after Prigozhin and Wagner staged their insurrection, the biggest challenge to Putin’s rule in over two decades. Russian investigative journalist Artem Borovik died in 2000 shortly after his plane to Kyiv crashed after take-off from Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport.

Persons: Yevgeny Prigozhin’s, Wagner, Prigozhin, Vladimir Solovyov, Solovyov, Yevgeny Prigozhin ”, Prigozhin –, Batya, –, Vladimir Putin’s, Alexey Navalny, Putin, “, Russia, That’s, Alexander Lukashenko, defenestration, Artem Borovik, Alexander Lebed –, cui bono –, Vanda Felbab, Brown, liquidating Wagner, ”, Vladimir Putin Organizations: CNN, Embraer, Kremlin, Russian Federation, Brookings Institution Locations: Kuzhenkinskoe, Russia’s Tver, Russian, Rossiya, Moscow, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Africa, St . Petersburg, Niger, Kyiv, Moscow’s Sheremetyevo, East

☆ Putin's invasion of Ukraine was his 'greatest intelligence fiasco,' spy expert says
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-20 | by ( Nathan Rennolds | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Russia's invasion of Ukraine was an "intelligence fiasco," an intelligence expert wrote in The Times. He said that Russia's FSB had failed to adequately prepare for the invasion of Ukraine. download the app Email address By clicking ‘Sign up’, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider as well as other partner offers and accept our Terms of Service and Privacy PolicyRussian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine was his "greatest intelligence fiasco," an intelligence expert has claimed. It likely played a role in the FSB's failure to establish well-placed recruits to act as saboteurs and help Russian forces during the invasion, Walton wrote. "The time after the war, with all the expulsions, was a fateful time for the Russian intelligence system," a European intelligence official told the outlet.

Persons: Calder Walton, Vladimir Putin's, Walton, Putin, Celestino Arce, Der Spiegel, Der, Horst Jehmlich Organizations: The, Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, Service, Sunday Times, Intelligence, Center for Strategic, International Studies, Guardian, Red Army Locations: Ukraine, The Times, Wall, Silicon, Russian, Ukraine's Kherson, Slovenia, Greece, Brazil, Norway, Netherlands, Dresden, East Germany, Soviet, West Germany

☆ Intelligence Agencies Warn Foreign Spies Are Targeting U.S. Space Companies
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-18 | by ( Julian E. Barnes | More About Julian E. Barnes | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Chinese and Russian intelligence agencies are targeting American private space companies, attempting to steal critical technologies and preparing cyberattacks aimed at degrading U.S. satellite capabilities during a conflict or emergency, according to a new warning by American intelligence agencies. and the Air Force issued a new advisory to American companies Friday morning. The broad warning to industry said that foreign intelligence services could be targeting space firms, their employees and the contractors that serve those companies. Space companies’ data and intellectual property could be at risk from attempts to break into computer networks, moles placed inside companies and foreign infiltration of the supply chain, officials said. “Foreign intelligence entities recognize the importance of the commercial space industry to the U.S. economy and national security, including the growing dependence of critical infrastructure on space-based assets,” the Counterintelligence Center warning said.

Persons: “, ” Organizations: National Counterintelligence and Security Center, Air Force, Counterintelligence Locations: Russian, U.S

☆ Exclusive: A veteran FBI agent told Congress that investigations into Giuliani and other Trump allies were 'suppressed'
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( Mattathias Schwartz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

An FBI veteran said his superiors suppressed investigations of Trump, Insider can exclusively reveal. Those figures, the statement claims, explicitly included "anyone in the [Trump] White House and any former or current associates of President Trump." The directions he received included a strict prohibition on filing intelligence reports relating to Giuliani or any other Trump associate. Even before the emergence of this new whistleblower, there has been ample evidence of individual FBI agents with pro-Trump partisan sympathies. Some FBI agents were reportedly satisfied by an assertion made by Trump's legal team that he'd turned over all his classified documents, and wanted to close the Mar-a-Lago government records investigation down.

Persons: Giuliani, Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump, President Trump, Scott Horton, Robert Mueller, Trump, Pavel Fuks, Joe Biden, Giuliani wasn't, doesn't, Charles McGonigal, Spokespeople, Fuks, Christopher Wray, Donald Trump's Mar, Hunter Biden, insurrectionists, Jim Jordan, Biden, Jordan, Russell Dye, Dye, Jared Wise, —, Trump's, James Comey, Peter Strzok —, he'd, Genius, Mattathias Schwartz Organizations: FBI, Trump, Trump White House, Service, White, Committee, Rolling Stone, New, GOP, Federal Government, Rep, Capitol, Capitol Police, Washington Post, Post, Justice Department Locations: Wall, Silicon, Russia, Ukrainian, York, New York, Fuks, Lago, Burisma, Anchorage, San Juan

☆ Putin 'just hid' during Wagner's mutiny, proving he can't guarantee 'security' for Russia, a former Russian colonel says
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Putin "just hid" during Wagner's mutiny, a former Russian colonel told The Washington Post. Chaos in Russian leadership left local authorities without direction during Prigozhin's rebellion. Gudkov told the Post that Putin's inaction during Yevgeny Prigozhin's 24-hour rebellion severely damaged his reputation with top Russian officials. That's left Putin appearing weak. One senior Moscow financier connected to Russian intel told the Post: "Russia is a country of mafia rules.

Persons: Putin, Wagner, Vladimir Putin, Gennady Gudkov, Gudkov, Yevgeny Prigozhin's, Prigozhin, Sergei Shoigu, Alexander Lukashenko, standdown, unsparingly, Prigozhin —, That's Organizations: Washington Post, Service, Russian Defense, Ukraine, Kremlin, Russian intel Locations: Russian, Wall, Silicon, Ukraine, Prigozhin, Belarus, Moscow, Russia

☆ Putin Warns That Ukraine Could Be Invaded and Occupied by Poland
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed Friday that Poland wants to seize Western Ukraine. Russia has often deflected from its own invasion by claiming Poland has its own imperial ambitions. "Emboldened by the current circumstances, Poland has decided that the chance to absorb the remnants of Ukraine is to be taken now, or never," he wrote on Twitter. Speaking Friday, Putin — who launched the 2022 invasion with the hope of overthrowing Kyiv's government — claimed he would not "interfere" in internal Ukrainian affairs. But he accused Poland of also desiring parts of Belarus, a close Russian ally.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Putin, Kevin Rothrock, Dmitry Medvedev, Putin —, Kyiv's, — Organizations: Security Council, Service, Sputnik, Russia's Security, Twitter Locations: Western Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Wall, Silicon, Ukraine, Crimea, —, Lithuania, Warsaw, Ukrainian, Lviv, Russian, Belarus

☆ Vienna is crawling with Russian spies inviting sources to skiing holidays
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-17 | by ( Azmi Haroun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Vienna, Austria, has become the prime European city for spies, especially from Russia, to set up. Efforts by local politicians to ban spying have been met with delays as Russia's war continues. Austria has expelled only four Russian spies posing as diplomats, while neighbors equipped with more robust laws have expelled over 400 spies since the start of Russia's war, the Times reported. There are 180 accredited Russian diplomats in Vienna, and a third of them are assumed to be spies, per the report. Recently, Chinese, Saudi, Iranian and Israeli spies have also benefitted from the power vacuum in Vienna, the Times reported.

Persons: Vienna's, Egisto Ott, Gustav Gressel Organizations: Service, Times, International Atomic Energy Agency, Washington Post, European Council, Foreign Relations, Austrian, Green Locations: Vienna, Austria, Russia, Wall, Silicon, Ukraine, Russian, Germany, Saudi, Western

☆ Accused Russian intelligence officer pleads not guilty to US smuggling charges
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Luc Cohen | Thomson Reuters | Reports On The New York Federal Courts. Previously Worked As A Correspondent In Venezuela | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

NEW YORK, July 14 (Reuters) - An alleged Russian intelligence officer pleaded not guilty on Friday to U.S. charges of smuggling U.S.-origin electronics and ammunition to Russia to help its war against Ukraine. Vadim Konoschenok, who was extradited on Thursday from Estonia, entered the plea at a hearing in federal court in Brooklyn. U.S. Magistrate Judge Ramon Reyes ordered Konoschenok detained pending trial, after prosecutors called him a flight risk. Konoschenok was initially charged last September, as U.S. authorities sought to ramp up enforcement of export controls and sanctions designed to hamper Moscow's war effort. Reporting by Luc Cohen; editing by John Stonestreet and Sandra MalerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Vadim Konoschenok, Judge Ramon Reyes, Konoschenok, Sabrina Shroff, Luc Cohen, John Stonestreet, Sandra Maler Organizations: YORK, Ukraine, U.S, Attorney, Thomson Locations: Russian, Russia, Estonia, Brooklyn . U.S, Brooklyn, U.S, Washington

☆ Poland detains Russian spy, says interior minister
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WARSAW, July 10 (Reuters) - Poland has detained another member of a Russian spy network, bringing the total number of people rounded up in an investigation to 15, the interior minister said on Monday. A hub for Western military supplies to Ukraine, Poland says it has become a major target of Russian spies and it accuses Moscow of trying to destabilise it. "The Internal Security Agency has detained another member of the spy network working for Russian intelligence," Mariusz Kaminski said in a post on Twitter. In June, Poland detained a Russian professional ice-hockey player on spying charges. Russia said at the time it had demanded an explanation from Poland over its arrest of Russian citizens.

Persons: Mariusz Kaminski, Prosecutors, Alan Charlish, Himani Sarkar, Robert Birsel, Alex Richardson Organizations: WARSAW, Internal Security Agency, Twitter, Prosecutors, Thomson Locations: Poland, Russian, Ukraine, Moscow, Warsaw, Ukrainian, Russia

☆ ‘Urban Explorers’ and Accused Spies Chafe in Legal Limbo in Albania
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-02 | by ( Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“It’s quite similar to becoming a cat,” he said of his existence, wearing a cat T-shirt on a reporter’s recent visit to the apartment. “You depend on people bringing you food.”Mr. Zorin’s dismantled bicycle is stowed away in the apartment, and Ms. Timofeyeva pointed to it wryly as evidence of his innocence. According to Mr. Zorin, the group had chosen the abandoned arms factory because it looked run down, unaware that it was a military facility. Separated from the others after they entered the plant, Mr. Zorin said he was approached by two men and did not realize they were guards. During a police interrogation, which Mr. Zorin said lasted until the early hours of the following day, officers accused him of being a Russian spy and did not believe he was just an urban explorer.

Persons: “, ”, Mr, Timofeyeva, Zorin Locations: Russian

☆ Kramatorsk restaurant strike shows death can come any time
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Ivana Kottasová | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —It was dinner time and the restaurant – a popular pizza joint in the center of Kramatorsk – was crammed with people. Just after 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, a Russian missile ripped through, killing at least 10 people. People comfort each other at the site of a Russian missile strike in Kramatorsk on June 27. Oleksandr Ratushniak/ReutersRescuers search for survivors after the Russian missile attack hit the Ria restaurant in Kramatorsk. In April last year, Russian forces carried out a missile strike on Kramatorsk’s railway station which was being used to shelter civilians fleeing the fighting.

Persons: Yulia, Anna Aksenchenko, –, Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Prigozhin, Vladimir Putin, Ria Lounge, Ria ., ”, Alex, Volodymyr Zelensky, Oleksandr Ratushniak, Wojciech Grzedzinski, Josep Borrell, ” Borrell Organizations: CNN, Authorities, Emergency Services, Institute for, Kramatorsk’s, Reuters, Anadolu Agency, Getty, “, Twitter, Ukrainian Security Service, Russian Armed Forces, Russia, Human Rights Watch, SITU Locations: Russian, Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Kramatorsk, Ukrainian, Ria, Kramatorsk’s

WASHINGTON, June 26 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden on Monday said a brief uprising by Russian mercenaries against the Kremlin was part of a struggle within the Russian system and that the United States and its allies were not involved in it. "We made clear we were not involved, we had nothing to do with this," Biden said in his first comments on the uprising by Wagner mercenaries that fizzled over the weekend. The Biden administration would not address a widely held perception in Washington that the uprising showed that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been weakened by his 16-month war against Ukraine. The White House said Biden also consulted on Monday with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni about the situation. Kirby said the United States does not know the parameters of the deal reached between Putin and Prigozhin that ended the uprising.

Persons: Joe Biden, Biden, Wagner, John Kirby, Sergei Lavrov, Yevgeny Prigozhin's, Vladimir Putin, Matt Miller, Putin's, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Putin, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Giorgia Meloni, It's, Kirby, We're, Jeff Mason, Steve Holland, Simon Lewis, Jonathan Landay, Phil Stewart, Kanishka Singh, Trevor Hunnicutt, Humeyra Pamuk, Mark Porter, Alistair Bell, Alex Richardson, Deepa Babington, Sandra Maler Organizations: Kremlin, Ukraine, White House, TASS, U.S ., Ukraine . State, NATO, Italian, Putin, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Russian, United States, Russia, Moscow, U.S, Washington, Ukraine, United

In the war-torn Chechnya region, Mr. Kadyrov built up a private fiefdom while professing loyalty to no official but Mr. Putin himself. A judo sparring partner from Mr. Putin’s youth became a construction billionaire and built Mr. Putin’s landmark bridge to Crimea. And then there was Mr. Prigozhin, who has said that he met Mr. Putin in 2000 as a St. Petersburg restaurateur. In Ukraine, as Mr. Prigozhin tells it, Wagner troops were only called in after Mr. Putin’s initial invasion plan failed. But Mr. Putin seemed to vacillate on his own support for Mr. Prigozhin.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, Yevgeny V, Prigozhin, Putin’s, “, ”, —, “ Putin, Tatiana Stanovaya, ” Mr, Ramzan Kadyrov, Aleksandr G, Lukashenko, Mr, Wagner, tycoons, Boris N, Yeltsin, Kadyrov, Prigozhin’s, K.G.B, Donald J, Trump, Weeks, ’, Putin “, Andrei Soldatov, Prigozhin “, ” Mark Galeotti, ” Neil MacFarquhar, Valerie Hopkins Organizations: Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, ., Reuters, Federal Security Service, Kremlin, Television, Defense, Defense Ministry, Center for Locations: Russia, Moscow, Russian, Rostov, Chechnya, Belarus, Russia’s, Don, Ukraine, Putin’s, Crimea, St, Petersburg, United States, Syria, Africa, Ukrainian, Bakhmut

CNN —Russian President Vladimir Putin is facing the greatest threat to his authority in two decades after Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner paramilitary group and Putin’s former ally, launched an apparent insurrection. Prigozhin has been highly critical of Russia’s military leadership and their handling of the war in Ukraine, but he had always stopped short of criticizing Putin directly. Wagner group also claimed to have seized Russian facilities in a second city, Voronezh, some 600 kilometers (372 miles) to the north of Rostov-on-Don. Alexander Gusev, the governor of the Voronezh region, said the Russian military was engaging in “combat measures” in the area. Stunning escalationSaturday’s dramatic events come off the back of Prigozhin’s very public and months-long feud with Russia’s military leadership.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner, Sergei Shoigu, Valery Gerasimov, Prigozhin, Putin, ” Putin, Igor Artamonov, Sergei Sobyanin, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, “, ”, Don “, ” “, ” Prigozhin, Rostov, Don, Alexander Gusev, Shoigu, –, Gen, Vladimir Alekseev, Sergei Naryshkin, Naryshkin, Ramzan Kadyrov, Vladimir Rogov, Rogov saif, ” Wagner, Stringer, Dmytro Kuleba, Serhii Cherevatyi Organizations: CNN, Prigozhin, Moscow, Terrorism, Security, Russian, RIA Novosti, Kremlin, Russian Southern Military Headquarters, Ministry of Defense, Russian Ministry of Defense, Foreign Intelligence Service, Russian Historical Society, Telegram, Southern Military District, Reuters, Russian Foreign, European Union, US State Department, Britain’s Ministry of Defense, Russian National Guard, Ukrainian, Twitter, Ukrainian Armed Forces Locations: Moscow, Ukraine, Russian, Rostov, Voronezh, Lipetsk, Russia, St . Petersburg, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Prigozhin’s, Prigozhin, Don, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, EU

☆ Factbox: EU targets sanctions circumvention with 11th package against Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

- The EU is banning the transit of certain sensitive goods like advanced technology or aviation-related materials, exported from the EU to third countries, via Russia. - Some companies, unable to sell sanctioned goods to Russia, sold Moscow the production rights to these goods so that Russia can produce them locally. The EU has now banned the sale, licensing, transfer or referral of intellectual property rights to Russia for the manufacture of sanctioned goods outside the EU. ENERGY MEASURES- The EU package ends the possibility of importing Russian oil by pipeline to Germany and Poland. OTHER- The EU extends a ban on Russian media broadcasting in the EU to five additional channels.

Persons: Jan Strupczewski, Susan Fenton Organizations: European, Russia, EU, United Arab, Caspian Pipeline Consortium, Ukrainian, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS, Ukraine, Russia, China, Uzbekistan, United Arab Emirates, Syria, Armenia, EU, Moscow, Russian, Germany, Poland, Japan

The target was Aleksandr Poteyev, a former Russian intelligence officer who disclosed information that led to a yearslong F.B.I. investigation that in 2010 ensnared 11 spies living under deep cover in suburbs and cities along the East Coast. In keeping with an Obama administration effort to reset relations, a deal was reached that sought to ease tensions: Ten of the 11 spies were arrested and expelled to Russia. According to Mr. Walton’s book, a Kremlin official asserted that a hit man, or a Mercader, would almost certainly hunt down Mr. Poteyev. Based on interviews with two American intelligence officials, Mr. Walton concluded the operation was the beginning of “a modern-day Mercader” sent to assassinate Mr. Poteyev.

Persons: Aleksandr Poteyev, Obama, Sergei V, Mr, Poteyev, Brown, Calder Walton, Walton’s, Ramón, Joseph Stalin’s, Leon Trotsky’s, Walton, Mercader ”, Grigory Mairanovsky Organizations: Intelligence, Harvard, The New York Times, Kremlin Locations: Russian, East Coast, Russia, Moscow, Britain, Mexico City, S.V.R

☆ Russia's 'least capable' troops aren't in Ukraine, but they're still causing problems next door, experts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Constantine Atlamazoglou | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Moldova, next door to Ukraine, has been under pressure from Russia for decades. Amid the war in Ukraine, Kyiv and Western officials say Moscow is stepping up its interference. As a result of a 1992 war between Moldovan forces and Transnistrian separatists, Russian troops entered the breakaway region to support the separatists. Following that war, Transnistria gained a form of autonomy. SERGEI GAPON/AFP via Getty ImagesMoldova declared a state of emergency after Russia attacked Ukraine in February 2022, and it remains in effect.

Persons: —, that's, John Sullivan, SERGUEI VORONIN, Chișinău, Maia Sandu, Diego Herrera Carcedo, SERGEI GAPON, Moldova's, John Kirby, Kirby, Pierre Crom, Thomas de Waal, Dara Massicot, Massicot, Jamar Marcel Pugh, Sandu, Ursula von der Leyen, Constantine Atlamazoglou Organizations: Service, Georgetown University, Getty, Moldovan, NATO, EU, Anadolu Agency, Getty Images Moldova, White House National Security Council, Carnegie, RAND Corporation, US Army National Guard, European Commission, Fletcher School of Law, LinkedIn Locations: Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, Transnistria, Kyiv, Western, Moscow, Soviet Union, Romania, Europe, Baltic, Poland, Bender, Transnistrian, Chisinau, May, Lithuania, Sweden, AFP, Russian, Carnegie Europe, NATO, Bulgaria

☆ U.S. sanctions target Russian influence campaign in Moldova
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, June 5 (Reuters) - The United States imposed sanctions on Monday on members of a Russian intelligence-linked group for their role in Moscow's efforts to destabilize democracy and influence elections in Moldova, the Treasury Department said. The new sanctions target seven Russian individuals, some of whom maintain ties to Russian intelligence services, the department said in a statement. They include the group's leader, Konstantin Prokopyevich Sapozhnikov, who organized the plot to destabilize the government of Moldova in early 2023, it said. The group's members provoke, train and oversee groups in democratic countries and conduct anti-government protests, rallies, marches and demonstrations, it added. Brian Nelson, the department's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said Monday's sanctions expose Russia's ongoing efforts to destabilize democratic nations.

Persons: Konstantin Prokopyevich Sapozhnikov, Yury Yuryevich Makolov, Gleb Maksimovich Khloponin, Aleksey Vyacheslavovich Losev, Svetlana Andreyevna Boyko, Vasily Viktorovich Gromovikov, Nicu Popescu, Brian Nelson, Doina Chiacu, Tim Ahmann, Will Dunham, Mark Porter Organizations: Treasury Department, European Union, Facebook, Thomson Locations: United States, Russian, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Canada

Search resuls for: "Russian intel"

25 mentions found